Process for making expanded-metal structures.



n. E. wmrs. PROCESS FOR MAKING EXPANDED METAL STRUCTURES.

APPLICAT I ON E/lLED SEPT. 10. I913.

' Patented Sept. 7, 1915.

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H. E. WHI-TE.

PROCESS FOR MAKING EXPANDED METAL STRUCTURES.

APPLICATION FlLED SEPT. 10, 1913.

1 1 5 3,1 45 Patented Sept. 7, 1915.

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H. E. WHITE.

PROCESS FOR MAKING EXPANDEQ METAL STRUCTURES.

' APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 10 1913- 1,153,145. PatentedS pt. 7, 1915.

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H. E. WHITE. 1

PROCESS FOR MAKING EXPANDED METAL STRUCTURES.

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partisan sraa'ss an" is HERBERT E. WHITE, 0]? YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE GENERAL FIRE- IBOOFING COMPANY, OF YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

PROCESS FOR MAKING EXPANDED-METAL STRUCTURES.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that T, HERBERT E. WHITE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Youngstown, in the county of Mahoning and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes for Making Expanded-Metal Structures, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a novel and practical process for. making expanded sheet metal structures characterized by deep ribs or uncut areas.

The object of the invention is to provide a process that can be successfully and commercially employed to slit and expand inside areas of a metal sheet, that is to say, between the ribs or uncut areas of such sheet, without buckling or otherwise distorting said ribs or uncut areas during the slitting, stretching, and expanding operations. The present invention distinguishes from those processes wherein the slitting and ex panding are worked from an external edge of the blank inwardly, in the particular that the same makes it'possible to expand a sheet of metal within the body of the blank by making a preliminary row of inside slits,

thereby creating an internal edge in ad Vance of the cuts which are to follow and to .be opened out into the expanded form.

These succeeding slits are arranged in parallel longitudinal rows, and are progressively stepped away from the preliminary row of slits which constitute what is equivalent to an edge, since it releases the metal and makes it free to move when the subsequent slits are made and opened out into meshes on both sides of the central line of i the unit to be expanded. Also the present invention distinguishes from the processes of others in the feature of causing the metal in the individual strands to be longitudinally elongated and the strands pressed to one side of the sheet, thereby expanding the material, and subsequently pulling the sheet laterally to thereby return the depressed portions into the original plane of the sheet, at the same time producing open meshes of novel formation. I

In carrying out the process, any suitable instrumentalities or mechanisms may be employed which are available, or can be adapted, for the purpose, so for illustrative urposes there are only shown in the drawmgs diagrammatically, such views as may Specification of Letters latent.

the final step of the process.

be necessary for a full understanding of the manipulation of the metal sheet to develop and produce in a rapid and economical manper a novel form of expanded metal strucure.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a blank metal sheet preliminarily formed with a plurality of parallel ribs and intervenlng fiat areas, preparatory to subjecting it to the first step of theprocess, namelv that of slitting and expanding the inside tiat areas between the uncut areas. Fig. 2 is an end view of the ribbed blank shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plantview of the ribbed blank illustrating the development of the expanded sections between the uncut areas, that is by progressively and simultaneously slitting the flat areas upon opposite sides of an uncut area or rib. Fig. 4 is a view 1llustrating diagrammatically an arrangement of slitting and displacing cutters that may be employed for slitting and expanding the inside fiat areas between the uncut areas, the shade lines indicating the cutting edges. Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic cross sectional view on the line 5-5 of Fig. 3, illustrating alternate uncut areas, together with the strands connecting therewith, pressed to one side of the original plane of the sheet. Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 illustrating the result of the lateral spreading operation which provides for moving the deflected slitted and expanded portions into the flat plane, and at the same time returning the uncut areas or ribs into substantially their original plane. Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic plan view of a type of spreading machine that may be utilized for Fig. 8 is a detail sectional view of portions of one of the pairs of guiding and holding rollers that may be employed in the machine shown in Fig. 7 to provide for holding to form and guiding the alternate depressed ribs back to their original plane, ,while the other alternate ribs of the sheet are being drawn apart by the expanding guides of the machine. Figs. 9 and 10 are plan and cross sectional views respectively of the novel and useful product made according to the present rocess.

Li lie reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several figures of the drawings.

It is proposed by the present invention to Patented Sept. 7, 1915. Application filed September 10, 1913. Serial No. 789,153.

produce open-mesh. expanded sections -be-' tween every pair of uncut areas orribs R of a metal sheet S without buckling or otherwise producing a contraction of said uncut areas or ribs, and without subjecting the metal strands to abnormal strains, thus enabling me to manufacture a novel and useful .combi'ned cutting and displacing dies having the general structural and functionalcharacteristics, for instance, of the dies disclosed in my former Patent,,No. 1,049,632, dated Jan. 7, 1913.. No material or inventive change would be required to adapt the machine of said patent for the operation of progressively and simultaneously slitting the.

fiat areas in the sheet upon opposite sides of 'an uncut area or rib. It would simply be necessary for an operator, as shown diagrammatically in Fig. 4 of the drawings, to omitthe middle line of cutters in each cutter unit of the machine, and sufficiently space apart the paired cutters a-a, b-b, 0 c, (Zd, et cetera, to clear the rib or uncut area which is indicated by dotted lines in said,-

diagram of Fig. 4. In other respects, the construction and operation of the machine disclosed in said former patent would remain the same.

As noted, the first stage in the manipulation of the metal is shown in Fig. 3, which illustrates the progress of the sheet through the combined slitting and expandingmachine. Referring thereto it will be observed, in the first place, that the slitting and expanding operation is carried on simultaneously in the flat areas f upon both sides of every alternate uncut area or rib. Accordingly, for descriptivepurposes, three uncut areas or. ribs R and the intervening flat areas f may be regarded as a unit, and it will be noted that the first step is to simultaneously cut into the sheet an initial series of pairs of longitudinal interrupted edge forming slits, designated by the numerals 1 -1, the slits 1 of each pair. being disposed respectively in the flat areas at opposite sides of the intermediate uncut area or rib of the said unit.v Thisoperation is merely one of slitting and serves to produce upon opposite sides of every alternate uncut area an internal edge from which proceed the progressive cutting of additional slits toward the outside margins of the units, until the entire predetermined fields or areas are completely slitted and expanded. Following the production ;of the internal edges resulting from the initial slits 11 of each unit, is the formation of other rows of parallel longitudinal interrupted slits which are made progressively from the slits 1 toward the sides of the unit, and which other rows of slits are designated respectively by the numerals 2-2, 3 3 H, 5 5, 66, et cetera.

In utilizing a slitting and expanding mechanism of the character herein referred to, the dies which make the alternate cuts 22, 38, 44l et cetera, following the cutting of the initial slits 1, are of a suitable form andhave the proper-movement to effect a displacing of the metal strands to one side of the plane of the sheet with the result of opening the slits into open meshes. Also, in this same operation, a necessary feature is the elongating of the metal in the strands in order to compensate for the non-contractibility of the uncut areas or ribs, and thereby enabling the operation of opening the slits to be uniformly carried out without impos ing undue strains on the strands at any point. Therefore, the effect of the slitting and expanding step is to displace all of the meshed web, of each unit of the sheet, toget-her with the middle uncut area or rib connecting with said web upon both sides thereof, to one side of the original plane of the sheet,-the' same taking the form of a substantially V-shaped arch as best seen in Fig. 5 of the drawings, with the uncut area or rib (designated by the letter R) at the center 'of said arch.

When the combined slitting, expanding, and displacing step is completed, as represented by the diagrammatic view of Fig. 5 of the drawings, the next step of the process .is to subject the metal sheet to lateral spreading operation which brings back the deflected uncut areas or ribs into substantially their original plane, and also moves the meshed strands connecting therewith into substantially the original plane of the sheet. In this operation, the strands s not only move back into substantially a fiat connecting webs w, to positions which are inclined or oblique to the horizontal plane of the sheet. Also, in this connection, a distinguishing feature of the final product is that of all of the strands between any two ribs or uncut areas being inclined in the same direction and lying in substantially parallel oblique planes, while at the same time being reversely disposed to the inclination of the strands at the opposite side of one of said ribs or uncut areas. It will also be observed that the meshes formed as described are of substantially diamond shape.

Any suitabletype of spreading or lateral expanding machine can be utilized. For instance, as diagrammatically shown in Fig. 7 of the drawings, that type of spreading plane, but at the same time turn, with their machine may be used which includes a plurality of diverging longitudinally grooved stationary guides G, the grooves of which guides are engaged by the alternate ribs of the sheet which remain in their original plane so that as the metal shape, in the form shown in Fig. 5, is moved through the spreading machine, the divergence of the guides G will draw apart the said alternate ribs with the result of bringing the depressed or deflected ribs and expanded sections back into their final plane, as shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings. In connection with the diverging stationary grooved guides G, it may be preferable to employ means for holding the form of the alternate depressed ribs and guiding them back into their final positions within the horizontal plane of the other ribs which engage the guides G. Such means may be provided by arranging a series of pairs of combined guiding and holding rollers 9 between the guides G, each pair of said guiding and holding rollers 9 including male and female members regis tering with the depressed alternate ribs of the structure and serving to prevent the same from being pulled out of shape during the final step of the process. The said series or pairs of combined guiding and holding rollers y will obviously be arranged in an oblique line to follow the backward movement of the depressed ribs into their original plane. However, it will, of course, be understood that any other means may be utilized for the purpose of bringing the metal shape of Fig. 5 into the final shape of Fig. 6, the diagram of Fig. 7 of the drawings simply being illustrative of a simple means of performing the final step of the process.

From the foregoing, it is thought that the novel process steps will be readily apparent Without further description, but it will be understood that any minor changes in the operations involved or in the means employed in connection therewith may be resorted to wherein the principle of the invention'is retained.

I claim:

1. The method of making expanded metal structures which consists in slitting and stretching longitudinal inside areas of a metal sheet, leaving an uncut area on both margins of each slitted area, and simultaneously depressing alternate uncut areas and the stretched strands connecting therewith to one side of the original plane of the sheet, thereby producing open meshes, and subsequently spreading the sheet laterally to thereby return said alternate uncut areas to the original plane and also to thereby bring the expanded portions into a flat plane.

2. The method of making expanded metal structures which consists in slitting and stretching longitudinal inside areas between the ribs of a ribbed metal sheet and simultaneously causing alternate ribs and the stretched strands connecting therewith to be pressed to one side of the original plane of the sheet, thereby producing open meshes, and subsequently spreading the sheet laterally to thereby return the said alternate ribs to their original plane and also to thereby bring the expanded portions into a flat plane.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

HERBERT E. WHITE. 

